SØRUMSAND (Dagbladet): On behalf of Per Orderud – who, together with his ex-wife Veronica Orderud, his former sister-in-law Kristin Kirkemo and the late Lars Grønnerød, has been convicted of complicity in the triple murder in 1999 – private investigator Tor Sandberg demands that a revolver, which he believes can be the murder weapon, is tested again.
MURDER: They were all convicted of complicity in the triple murder at Orderud farm. From left Per Orderud, Veronica Orderud, Lars Grønnerød and Kristin Kirkemo. Photo: The police
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– The police have test fired the revolver, and believe it is not the weapon used in the trip murder, but at the same time they do not rule out that it is the murder weapon, says Tore Sandberg.
– We are not going to give up. The revolver must be cleaned and then test fired, so that the projectiles can be examined by an independent weapons technical laboratory, so that we can establish with certainty whether the revolver is the murder weapon, says Tore Sandberg.
Anonymous
On Thursday 5 November 2019, Sandberg was contacted anonymously by telephone.
– The caller could say that after a death, he had been handed a bag with a revolver. After being in contact with a lawyer, he called me, says Tore Sandberg.
The information provided by the caller was startling. The person believed that the revolver was one of the two firearms used to kill Per Orderud’s parents and sister – Marie Orderud (84), Kristian Orderud (81) and Anne Orderud Paust (47) – was in the person’s possession.
It was determined that the three were killed with two different weapons. The weapons have never been found.
Together with Sandberg, and his colleague Morten Strandskogen, former deputy head of the Kripos, Knut Holen, traveled to a small place outside a town in Eastern Norway, to collect the weapon.
Visit of Orderud convict
– We were handed the revolver. The person who gave us the firearm was also able to say that one of the four convicted in the triple murder case had been in the home where the revolver had been kept, just a few days after the triple murder in Whitsun 1999. This information was later confirmed, says Tore Sandberg.
CRITICAL: Private investigator Tore Sandberg has little trust in the technical department at Kripos. Photo: Lars Eivind Bones / Dagbladet
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Dagbladet knows the identity of the designated Orderud convict, and the person who should have been given the weapon for safekeeping. The two are said to have had a close relationship for a period of time.
– We got the revolver, but we had to guarantee that the identity of those involved would never be known. We understood it to mean that the person concerned was afraid of reprisals, says Tore Sandberg.
The commission
– After we secured the revolver, we handed it over to the Readmission Commission the following day – Friday 6 November 2019.
The same commission that had then worked on Per Orderud’s petition for the resumption of the criminal case against him for over a year.
In consultation with Knut Holen and Morten Strandskogen, Tore Sandberg chose to insist to the Re-recording Commission that the revolver should be tested at two different weapons technical laboratories.
– We believed, and still believe, that the revolver should be examined, and test-fired, at at least two different weapons technical laboratories – one of which is foreign, says Sandberg.
Kripos
He justifies the demand by saying that in his work on the Orderud case, he has discovered a number of errors and shortcomings in Kripos’ technical investigations after the triple murder.
– We simply do not trust the answers we get from the forensic department at the Central Criminal Police Centre, says Tore Sandberg.
Documents from Kripos show that the revolver was handed over from the Reincarnation Commission to Kripos on 20 November 2019. One and a half months later – on 10 January 2020 – the weapons experts, Police Superintendent Morten Støen and Chief Engineer Øistein Osen, had examined and test fired 17 times with the revolver .
The report from Kripo’s technical department states:
“It appears likely that the submitted revolver is a Mod. Police Positive Special».
The revolver was probably produced in 1913, and is said to have later been modified with a barrel, which originally belonged to a Colt Mod. Detective Special, which is produced after 1927.
Kripo’s weapons technical experts conclude that the boom and rifle marks on the projectiles – which have been test fired – weaken the hypothesis that the revolver is the murder weapon.
Does not exclude
“The result of the comparison between the projectiles in the Orderud case and projectiles from the test firing of the submitted revolver speaks with great certainty that the said projectiles were not fired from the revolver.”
HIDDEN: The revolver was hidden in a house in a small place in Eastern Norway for 20 years. Photo: Tore Sandberg
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But at the same time it is not ruled out, and the report states:
“… a very long time has passed since the projectiles A-62, C-1 and D-2 (projectiles that were found in the kår housing at Orderud gård, editor’s note) were fired and that therefore one cannot completely rule out that changes in the weapon’s barrel (e.g. rust or wear during use) can change the tracking surfaces”.
The Kripos report also states:
“The three crime scene projectiles’ low “score” in the search in the automatic identification system IBIS further weakens the hypothesis that they were fired from the submitted revolver. IBIS is an internationally recognized system for comparing fired casings and projectiles and it can be mentioned that when two projectiles from the test firing of the revolver were searched in the system, this gave a very high “score” and a strong indication that they must have been fired in the same arms”.
“No trust”
– Kripos concludes that the revolver is not identical to one of the weapons that was used in the kår housing on Orderud farm, but at the same time they do not rule it out, says Tore Sandberg.
– Initially, we did not trust that Kripos would examine the revolver, and urgently requested that the weapon also have to be tested at a recognized foreign weapons technical laboratory. For us, it is incomprehensible that the Re-admission Commission has not been allowed to do so, says Sandberg.
He says that he has been prompted a number of times to get a response from the Readmissions Commission.
THE REVOLVER: This revolver – a Colt from 1913 – could, in Tore Sandberg’s opinion, be the murder weapon. Photo: Tore Sandberg
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– They do not respond to our inquiries. It is now almost five years since Per Orderud sent his petition for reinstatement. It doesn’t exactly testify to legal certainty, says Tore Sandberg.
Silent Commission
Since Wednesday this week, Dagbladet has also tried to get an answer from the Re-admission Commission.
These three questions were sent to the commission:
1. Is it correct that you have had the revolver examined and that there have been test shots with it?
2. Is it correct that the investigation concludes that it cannot be ruled out that it is one of the murder weapons?
3. Is it correct that Tore Sandberg has requested that the revolver also be examined at a foreign laboratory, and that this has not been done?
TAUS: Siv Hallgren, head of the Commission for the reopening of criminal cases, did not have the opportunity to answer questions about the revolver. Photo: Fredrik Hagen / NTB
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“We are at a seminar and I do not have the opportunity to answer this”is the response from the commission’s leader Siv Hallgren.
DNA and fingerprints
– For us, it is incomprehensible that the revolver has not been examined by foreign experts, so that we can get a final answer, says Tore Sandberg.
He says that they have been advised by arms experts to contact Lucien C. Haag or Michael G. Haag. They are considered among the world’s leading weapons experts, and each run their own weapons institute/weapons laboratory in the USA.
– We also asked the Re-admission Commission to examine the revolver for fingerprints and DNA. As far as we know, that has not been done either, says Tore Sandberg.
